Ottawa, Ontario: Cannabis has surpassed wheat as Canada’s most lucrative agricultural crop, Bloomberg News Wire reported last week. The report estimated Canada’s illicit cannabis market to be worth $8.5 billion annually, approximately three times the size of Canada’s largest legal crop.
“Only by enacting a system whereby cannabis is taxed and regulated in a manner similar to alcohol can Canada begin to capitalize on the revenue generated by this booming multi-billion dollar underground economy,” NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre said.
Last year, a report published by the Vancouver-based economic think-tank The Fraser Institute estimated that taxing cannabis would generate $2 billion per year in federal revenues.
More recently, a US economic analysis estimated that legalizing cannabis would yield $6.2 billion in annual revenue if it were taxed at rates comparable to those imposed upon alcohol and tobacco.
A previous report by the NORML Foundation estimated the annual value of the US cannabis retail market at $25 billion.
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500.